Animal science is not just a field of identification and observation; it keeps on going as far as we take it.
This post is all about the different branches of sciences associated with zoology and their scope.
Zoology is also known as ZOOGRAPHY (descriptive zoology). It is applied sciences that work in describing the animal and their habitats. Zoography focuses on distributing animal and their habitats. Zoography focuses on distributing the specific population of animals concerning the geographic ranges, the effects these species have on the ecosystem they dwell in, and describes the reasons behind different population distribution patterns.
COMPARATIVE ANATOMY,
anatomy as defined in the previous posts, is the study of body structures. In this context, comparative anatomy refers to studying similarities and differences in different animal structures. This is a major field of zoology that enables one to tabulate and contrast between two different species. It is also important to identify the enhancements in the built of different levels of organisms. Closely related animals, for example, mammals, share common bones, though these bones have been extremely modified in shape and may or may not have similar functions. The primary example of this is the human, dog, bird, whale, and lizard limbs.
When compared together, they show an almost similar structure but are modified to perform different functions. Such structures are called homologous structures. Studying the similar anatomical structures in related organisms provided evidence for evolution from a common ancestor that was later confirmed by genetic research. Comparative anatomy is still used often in paleontology, the study of fossils.
ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY, physiology can be referred to as the study of chemistry and physics of the body. More descriptively, the study of the bodily processes that occur in animals allows them to maintain normal body conditions (homeostasis) and survive. This helps one examine the physical condition of an animal to detect disorders or diseases if any.
ETHOLOGY, most of the zoologists' preferred branch without any doubt, has to be ethology; it is associated with animals' behavioral aspects. It is the study of animal behavior, usually regarding their natural environment, and doesn't refer to a lab. It involves studying animal learning, cognition, communication, and sexuality; it is further related to evolutionary biology and ecology. Ethology is a widespread field of zoology which is interlinked to various other major divisions.
THE PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS VARIOUS BEHAVIOURS OF ANIMALS LIKE AGGRESSION, FEEDING HABITS, MATING BEHAVIOURS, DEFENSE MECHANISMS, COURTSHIP BEHAVIOUR, NURSING AND SURVIVAL STRATEGIES AND MUCH MORE
One of the branches that emerged from ethology is BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY. It is the study of evolution as the basis of animal behavior concerning ecological pressures. I will come up with a more detailed explanation of Zoology's major extensions in my later posts. Zoology follows the grouping of different fields based on different animals, and they are studied accordingly. To be more precise, zoology is broken down into sub-categories based on the type of studied animals. For example, a distinction is made between invertebrates ( animals without a backbone) and vertebrates (animals with a backbone) named invertebrate zoology and vertebrate zoology. There are also more specific terms for each group of animals. Some examples are:
Mammology - the study of mammals, a popular type of mammology is primatology, the study of primates.
Ornithology - the study of birds.
Herpetology - the study of reptiles and amphibians.
Ichthyology- the study of fish.
Entomology- the study of insects.
With that, we come to the end of this post. I'm focused on publishing a write-up and making it fit enough to be referred to as notes by anyone who wishes to. My future publications will also have referral links that will redirect the readers to resources with more details about a particular terminology or mechanism.
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